Tag: Beijing

Slow train to China – India’s trade ties with Beijing taking time to ripen

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China and India may be talking about improving their trade relationship but there is little action to go with the words.

According to Indian government officials and representatives of various Indian trade bodies, progress is very slow – and may even be getting slower after last weekend’s truce between the United States and China in their trade war.

Both India and China have sought to rebuild trust after a armed standoff over a stretch of the Himalayan border last year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met a number of times this year to give impetus to the trade discussions. The latest was last week, when they met on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina.

Indian and Chinese officials said after that meeting there was talk of Beijing increasing its soymeal, rapeseed meal, rice and sugar imports from India, while China would push for more Chinese exports of dairy products, apples and pears to India.

India is also keen to increase its exports of drugs to China.

In reality, though, getting such exchanges turned into deals is going to be a laborious process.

“When we say the Chinese are receptive, it means the talks are happening, but it’s going slow,” said one senior Indian government official with direct knowledge of the discussions. “It can be termed as progress because just a few months ago, we weren’t even talking,” said the official, who did not wish to be named because he is not authorised to talk to media.

The Chinese commerce ministry did not respond to a faxed request for comment for this article.

Bilateral trade between China and India touched $89.71 billion in the year ending March 2018, with the trade deficit widening to $63.05 billion in China’s favour, more than a nine-fold increase over the past decade.

The Indian government is very keen to reduce that gap. A recent study commissioned by India’s trade ministry and reviewed by Reuters, said: “There is no bilateral trade relationship of greater economic and political significance for India than with China.”

The reduction in trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, which has led to a delay in the imposition of larger punitive tariffs by the United States pending further trade talks over a 90-day period, means that the Chinese government may not feel the need to speed up its discussions with New Delhi, Indian officials said.

The government has received calls from jittery exporters who want to know whether the improvement in the relationship between China and the United States would make India’s position weaker, said the senior Indian government official.

Roadblock For India

Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, also said China’s truce with the United States may be a roadblock to improved trade with Beijing.

“As it is, the China-US tariff tension was a temporary opportunity and it is not correct for companies to base their long-term strategies on it,” said Sahai.

One longer term impediment to improved trade is product quality, and trade, industry and government officials in India said both Beijing and New Delhi could take time to iron out their differences.

Last week, India and China signed an agreement allowing Beijing to inspect imports of Indian fish meal and fish oil.

A Chinese trade delegation is coming to India on Dec. 10 to inspect soymeal plants, said D.N. Pathak, executive director of the Soybean Processors Association of India.

India wants China to drop a years-long ban on soymeal imports from the South Asian nation. China was a leading buyer of Indian soymeal, a key ingredient in animal feed, until Beijing banned the purchases in late 2011 over quality concerns.

In November, India’s trade ministry said the country could export up to 2 million tonnes of sugar, but trade officials said the target was too steep because China has already exhausted its import quota for this year.

Although India has contracted to sell some tiny shipments of rice to China, officials said New Delhi would find it difficult to boost volumes as Beijing has traditionally been importing the staple from Vietnam and Thailand and the Chinese would take time to develop a taste for Indian rice.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China promises action on US trade deal but gives no details

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China issued an upbeat but vague promise Wednesday to carry out a tariff cease-fire with Washington but gave no details that might dispel confusion about what Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agreed to in Argentina.

China has yet to confirm Trump’s claim that Beijing committed to cut auto tariffs and buy more American farm exports. That, coupled with conflicting statements by Trump and US officials, helped trigger a tumble in US stock prices Tuesday amid doubt about the chances for a lasting settlement of a battle over technology that threatens to chill global economic growth.

“China will start from implementing specific issues on which consensus has been reached, and the sooner, the better,” the Commerce Ministry said on its website.

The two sides have a “clear timetable and road map” for talks, the ministry said, but gave no details. The ministry didn’t respond to questions by phone and fax.

The Chinese silence prompted questions about what Trump said was a promise by Beijing to buy more American exports and negotiate over US complaints that it steals American technology.

Stock markets rose Monday after US officials touted the agreement as a historic breakthrough. But they plunged Tuesday after Trump called himself “Tariff Man” on Twitter and renewed threats of penalty duties.

Be patient, said Ma Hong, a trade expert at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He said Chinese leaders are right to move carefully as they deal with contentious details.

The delay in talking “isn’t a sign of rejection, but of cautiousness,” said Ma.

“The United States has put forward many demands, not all of them reasonable,” he said. Negotiations will proceed “step by step, not based on the rhythm of the United States.”

Trump is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for state-led development of Chinese technology champions that Washington says violate its market-opening commitments.

Chinese leaders have offered to change some details of plans such as “Made in China 2025.” They have rejected pressure to scrap strategies they see as a path to prosperity and global influence, but foreign analysts say they might be starting to understand the depth of foreign opposition to their plans.

Beijing has tried without success to recruit Europe, South Korea and other countries as allies against Trump. They criticize Washington’s tactics but share its complaints.

This week’s confusion highlights the clash between the secrecy and measured pace of the ruling Communist Party and Trump, who fires off dozens of Twitter comments a day and cultivates an image as a fast-paced, unpredictable deal-maker.

Chinese leaders routinely use delays of months or years to pressure negotiating partners.

Even on routine matters, with no voters to placate and total control of Chinese media, they can frustrate other governments by leaving them waiting weeks or months for a response.

Beijing is less informative than Washington, which “might sometimes be too transparent,” with officials issuing conflicting statements, said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics.

Despite the Chinese silence, the “atmosphere is more constructive” and Beijing might be more willing to negotiate, Kuijs said. He noted all the major American players attended the Argentina meeting, giving a sign of “buy in” on a US position. China has responded to Washington’s list of demands, though it is unclear what Beijing said.

The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, citing unidentified sources, said Beijing was preparing to send a 30-member negotiating team to Washington.

“I think there is a higher likelihood that we get meaningful discussions now than in much of the last six months,” said Kuijs.

Questions began to swirl after China’s foreign minister read a statement Saturday in Buenos Aires that said Washington agreed to halt tariff hikes. Wang Yi failed to mention industrial policy or Trump’s demand that Beijing make progress in changing it or face renewed duty increases.

That prompted some economists to ask whether Beijing was presenting a positive image for Chinese audiences or didn’t understand the depth of American opposition to its technology plans.

On Tuesday, China’s government issued a pledge that appeared to be aimed at mollifying US complaints about rampant violations of patents and copyrights. It promised to create a list of violators that would make it harder for them to do business or get government support.

Analysts noted, however, there were no additional enforcement efforts.

“The notice won’t convince President Trump that China is taking a serious stance on the matter,” Irene Pang of ING said in a report.

Meanwhile, Rabobank suggested a simpler explanation Wednesday for China’s silence: Xi has yet to return to Beijing to approve official statements.

The president, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, flew from Argentina to Panama for an official visit and on Wednesday was in Portugal.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China will propose WTO reforms, but don’t try to trap us, says Beijing’s WTO envoy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China plans to propose reforms of the World Trade Organization, China’s ambassador to the WTO Zhang Xiangchen said, while warning fellow WTO members against seeing reform as a chance to put China in a straitjacket.

Zhang was speaking at a lunch during a WTO conference in Paris on Friday, where diplomats and officials discussed ideas about reforming the WTO, largely driven by US complaints that the WTO has failed to police suspected Chinese rule-breaking.

With support from Brussels and Tokyo, Washington wants the WTO to crack down on subsidies for state-backed enterprises, overcapacity in steel and other basic industries, and on the practice of forcing investors to hand over valuable technology.

China is its chief suspect on all three counts.

But the United States has parted with its allies by blocking appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body, whose judges it blames for hampering the US war on unfair trade practices.

The rest of the WTO fears the United States is undermining a global check on protectionism. The EU and Canada have both launched reform initiatives to deal with the US concerns.

Zhang said China had decided to co-sponsor the EU’s proposal on reforming the Appellate Body, and he and US Ambassador Dennis Shea were members of a high-level working group that China and the EU had set up.

“We will also put forward China’s WTO reform proposal soon,” he said, according to a copy of his remarks provided to Reuters.

Zhang said he had listened carefully and humbly to comments and complaints about China at the Paris conference.

“We will study them carefully, and to see if some of them could be taken into account in the process of domestic institutional reform,” he said.

He added that China was willing to discuss the root causes of problems such as excess capacity but it would not have views forced upon it. The problem needed to be correctly diagnosed before a rush to make prescriptions.

The WTO needed reform because it was not keeping up with changes in business, it was losing the battle against unilateralism and protectionism, and had not made any meaningful cut in rich countries’ agricultural subsidies, he said.

Zhang said WTO reform should liberalise trade and facilitate investment, but step-by-step and without reinventing the wheel or “moonshot targets”. And the WTO must not be used to suit particular countries’ needs, he said.

“Excuse me for being a bit blunt here, but if someone wishes, in the name of reform, put China in a tailor-made straitjacket of trade rules to constrain China’s development, I think they will be very much disappointed,” he said.

“If it is a real reform, we’ll go ahead with it, if it is a trap, it’s best for all of us to stay away from it.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

An explainer on how acrimony over trade and politics is sinking China-US ties further

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

“Both ignorant and malicious” was how the official China Daily newspaper recently described comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, offering a stinging insight into the current bitter tone of discourse between the countries.

The White House’s move to expand Washington’s dispute with Beijing beyond trade and technology and into accusations of political meddling has sunk relations between the world’s two largest economies to the lowest level since the Cold War.

A major speech by US Vice President Mike Pence on Oct. 4 was the clearest, highest-level sign that U.S. strategy was turning from engagement to confrontation. Pence accused China of interfering in the midterm elections to undermine President Donald Trump’s tough trade policies against Beijing, warned other countries to be wary of Beijing’s “debt diplomacy” and denounced China’s actions in the South China Sea.

“What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country,” Pence told an audience at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington.

Both sides are trading increasingly sharp accusations over human rights and global hegemony, exposing an ideological divide that pits the two on a path of confrontation with no clear resolution in sight.

While a military clash has not been ruled out, American-based analysts envision a continuing push-and-pull for dominance between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, China’s most dominant — and repressive — leader since Mao Zedong. Xi’s aggressive foreign policy and authoritarian ways have altered views of China across the board.

“What has happened is a sea change in US perceptions of China,” said June Teufel Dreyer, an expert on Chinese politics who teaches political science at the University of Miami. While Chinese officials privately say they’re concerned about the sharp deterioration in ties, especially given the massive links between the two in trade, immigration and education, it appears Beijing is more than willing to go toe-to-toe under the new circumstances.

Increasingly, the perception that as China grew more prosperous it would fall in line with global values and international law has been exploded. Into that breach has come hardening U.S. rhetoric toward Beijing and actions to counter, deter or defy China’s moves in the international sector, particularly its “Belt and Road” trade and infrastructure initiative that seeks to expand Beijing’s economic and political footprint from Cambodia to Cairo.

Trump’s first national security strategy, released last year, also labeled China a “revisionist power” alongside Russia.

Beijing’s outrage at Pompeo, meanwhile, was prompted by his recent warnings to Latin American countries about the dangers of accepting Chinese infrastructure loans that are a key aspect of Xi’s signature foreign policy project.

“US-China relations have deteriorated to their worst point” since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing that were crushed by the Chinese military, said Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group.

“It may not be a clash of civilizations, but it is a long-festering conflict of national, political and economic interest and systems that has reached a point of rupture,” Kovrig said.

Xi has abandoned the strategy laid out by reformist leader Deng Xiaoping that China should bide its time and refrain from advertising its ambitions to become a world power. Instead, he has been accused of overreach by promoting China’s drive to become a global technology leader by 2025, including by compelling foreign companies to hand over their know-how, and pushing Chinese-financed energy and transportation projects that leave target countries with unsustainable debt.

On the military front, a Chinese destroyer last month maneuvered perilously close to the USS Decatur in the South China Sea. The Chinese also denied a request for a US Navy ship to visit Hong Kong and rejects US concerns over its policies toward other countries.

“The US simply aims to drive a wedge between China and relevant countries with those remarks,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday. “It is meaningless and futile.”

The tart rhetoric is evident on both sides.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a speech last week that China’s government “is engaged in the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities that is straight out of George Orwell,” referencing the internment of Muslims in the country’s northwest in political reeducation camps.

This month, the United States went further by threatening to pull out of the Universal Postal Union because it says the treaty allows China to ship packages to the U.S. at discounted rates at the expense of American businesses.

Underlying the estrangement is the sense that Beijing lacks reciprocity, taking advantage of open markets and free societies to extend its interests, while denying the same benefits to companies, governments and individuals over which it has influence.

“My bottom line view is that Xi Jinping very much overplayed his hand taking advantage of the restrained and moderate (former President Barack) Obama,” said Robert Sutter, a China expert at George Washington University. “Now he has an enormous American series of challenges to deal with, with no easy solutions.”

While Chinese companies — often backed by easy credit from state banks — have been snapping up foreign assets, Beijing restricts such foreign purchases in key sectors such as energy, transport and telecommunications. Although China has loosened some joint-venture demands, including in the auto industry, that may be too little too late.

China is “not very willing to constrain itself under rules that it feels were forced upon it,” said Dean Cheng, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “This includes the international trading system, which is dominated by the U.S.”

Still, attempts to contain China along the lines laid out during the Cold War would be “difficult, if not impossible,” given the broad range of contacts across political, economic and personal spheres, Cheng said.

The U.S. has also reinforced ties with Taiwan — claimed by China as its own territory — building an impressive new de facto embassy there, approving a major sale of military parts and services, and authorizing companies to help the self-governing island democracy build submarines to defend itself from China’s threats to use force to bring it under Beijing’s control.

The tensions are underscored by political uncertainties in both countries. Trump faces a referendum of sorts on his policies in next month’s midterm elections, while Xi has come under rare criticism at home since he forced through a constitutional amendment in March to allow him to lead indefinitely.

Xi is also beset by a slowing economy, made worse by U.S. tariffs that threaten the jobs of millions of Chinese workers. While China has retaliated with its own tariffs on U.S. goods, the loss of American markets will likely be a major drag on growth.

All such factors appear to speak poorly for any immediate resolution to the frictions.

Michael Mazza, a foreign policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington, said “competition will remain the norm” between the two countries unless China is willing to make significant changes in its domestic, economic and foreign policies.

“At this point, there is little reason to suspect that such a shift is in the offing,” Mazza said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Donald Trump accuses China of 2018 election meddling; Beijing rejects charge

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

US President Donald Trump accused China of seeking to meddle in the Nov. 6 US congressional elections on Wednesday, saying Beijing did not want his Republican Party to do well because of his pugnacious stance on trade.

“China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election, coming up in November. Against my administration,” Trump told a UN Security Council meeting whose ostensible subject was nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Trump, chairing the Council for the first time since becoming US president, did not provide any evidence for his allegation, which China immediately rejected during the same meeting.

“We did not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs. We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China,” the Chinese government’s top diplomat Wang Yi told the Council.

Trump also used the session to defend the US withdrawal in May from a 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, hint at progress in US efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear program, and to criticize Iran and Russia for supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s war, now in its eighth year.

“The Syrian regime’s butchery is enabled by Russia and Iran,” Trump said.

Trump’s focus on China and his allegation of election meddling came as a surprise during a formal meeting around the Security Council’s horseshoe table that was expected to concentrate on the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

“They do not want me or us to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade and we are winning on trade, we are winning at every level. We don’t want them to meddle or interfere in our upcoming election,” said Trump, who is attending the UN’s annual gathering of world leaders.

Trump himself is not up for re-election until 2020 but November’s voting will decide whether his Republican Party can keep control of the US House of Representatives and the Senate. Some opinion polls show that the Democratic Party could make a strong showing, notably in the House.

Trade War

The United States and China are embroiled in a trade war, sparked by Trump’s accusations that China has long sought to steal US intellectual property, limit access to its own market and unfairly subsidize state-owned companies.

In the latest salvo, US tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and retaliatory taxes by Beijing on $60 billion worth of US products kicked in on Monday, unnerving global financial markets.

During his roughly 10-minute speech, Trump made no reference to US allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 US election that brought him to power. The allegations have dogged his presidency and have given rise to an investigation by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller into potential collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, which Trump rejects.

In July at a summit in Helsinki, Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials his government ran an operation to hack Democratic Party computers and spread disinformation on social media. Trump frequently describes investigations into the interference as a political witch hunt.

On the war in Syria, Trump noted Washington had twice launched airstrikes against the Assad government for twice using chemical weapons against civilians.

He also used the session to defend his May 8 decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal under which Tehran limited its nuclear program in return for the easing of US, European and international economic sanctions.

The core US sanctions that seek to choke off Iran’s oil exports, the life blood of its economy, will resume in early November and Trump promised that “after that the United States will pursue additional sanctions, tougher than ever before, to counter the entire range of Iran’s malign behavior.”

The United States accuses Iran of supporting destabilizing proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Trump asked the Security Council to work with the United States to “ensure the Iranian regime changes its behavior and never acquires a nuclear bomb.”

China’s Wang encouraged Iran to keep its commitments under the nuclear deal and, in an apparent riposte to Trump, said “at the same time, the legitimate right of all countries to normal economic relations and trade with Iran should be respected.”

Sanctions Violations?

While Iran has made clear that it has little interest in opening talks with the United States since Washington’s abrogation of the accord, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Trump in June about his country’s nuclear program.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Pyongyang next month to discuss North Korean denuclearization efforts ahead of a planned second summit between Kim and Trump, the US State Department said on Wednesday.

“I think we will make a deal, but unfortunately to ensure this progress continues we must enforce existing UN Security Council resolutions until denuclearization occurs,” Trump said before Pompeo’s trip was announced.

Trump told the Council some countries were violating the UN sanctions, but he did not name them. The US ambassador to the United Nations accused Russia this month of “cheating” on UN sanctions on North Korea.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China holds VegFest as veganism gains popularity in the country

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Around 10,000 people are expected to take part in a “Plant-Based Festival” in Beijing this weekend as many people in China are pursuing healthy, eco-friendly and trendy lifestyles and has prompted especially the younger generation, to go vegan.

Featuring a plant-based food fair, outdoor fitness activities and live music, the event aims to reflect the growing popularity of veganism in China and to offer an alternative way to celebrate the holidays in a healthy way, according to the organisers.

On Saturday and Sunday, the “Pop Plant-Based Festival” will have a plant-based food market in the morning, with vendors from 100 vegan brands ranging from food and fashion to health, reports Xinhua news agency.

In the afternoon, the country’s top fitness coaches and world-class vegan athletes will provide training sessions in everything from yoga to “insanity workouts” during an outdoor “FitFest.”

After the sweaty workout, a large party called Rock Moon Night, inspired by London’s famous “Vegan Nights” events – is to be hosted by acclaimed live DJs.

“Our main objective is to provide a fun, entertaining and fulfilling experience for festival attendees so that they can learn about plant-based food and fitness in a friendly and supportive environment,” Jack Kleinman, co-organiser of the event, told Xinhua.

In recent years, veganism has seen rapid growth in China and throughout the world, as mounting evidence and research shows the negative impact of meat consumption on human health.

Kleinman hopes that the event will serve as a significant platform for promoting plant-based

According to the organisers, the event will also be held nationwide at later dates in cities including Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amid US trade war, China’s Xi reiterates reform commitment

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

China is still determined to reform and wants to work with all parties to build an open world economy, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday, reiterating Beijing’s message amid a bitter trade war with Washington.

The two countries have been rolling out a series of tariffs on each other’s exports as US President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to tackle a range of issues from the large trade imbalance with China to forced technology transfers.

China has criticised the United States for resorting to protectionist and unilateral measures and says it will keep opening up its economy, providing a fair and transparent environment for foreign businesses.

Meeting U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in Beijing ahead of a major China-Africa summit, Xi made no direct mention of the trade tensions with the United States, referring instead to “unilateralism and protectionism rearing its head”.

“China’s determination to fully deepen reforms will not change,” China’s Foreign Ministry paraphrased Xi as telling Guterres.

“We are willing to use practical actions to drive all parties to jointly adhere to trade liberalisation and facilitation and build an open world economy,” Xi added.

The ministry’s statement did not elaborate.

US and Chinese officials ended two days of talks last month without a major breakthrough as their trade war escalated with the activation of a further round of tariffs on $16 billion worth of each other’s goods.

The two countries have now targeted $50 billion of each other’s goods and threatened duties on most of the rest of their bilateral trade, raising concerns that the conflict could dent global economic growth.

Trump administration officials have been divided over how hard to press Beijing, but the White House appears to believe it is winning the trade war as China’s economy slows and its stock markets falter.

Economists estimate that every $100 billion of imports hit by tariffs would reduce global trade by around 0.5 percent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China-Africa trade deficit prominent at conference

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

African leaders will likely press their Chinese hosts at a conference this week to help narrow their trade deficits with Beijing by shifting more manufacturing to their continent, the chief executive of the biggest African bank said.

China has passed Europe and the United States as the biggest trading partner of most African countries. Most run large deficits with Beijing, exporting minerals and buying Chinese manufactured goods.

“The question of the trade imbalance is one that I think will be placed firmly on the table by the African delegates,” the chief executive of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, Sim Tshabalala, told reporters.

China’s commercial presence in Africa has prompted complaints in some countries that the continent gets too little from the relationship. Africa is a major target of Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build ports, highways and other trade-related infrastructure, but some critics in Tanzania, Kenya and other countries say they leave hosts with too much debt.

“I would expect African leaders to put on the table the opportunity that arises from building the African continent’s manufacturing capability in a way that is in the best interests of the African continent but benefits china as well,” Tshabalala said Saturday.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, opening Monday, brings together leaders from China and more than 50 African countries. Dozens of African leaders have met with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the conference.

The participants are looking for ways to “advance common growth and development,” said South Africa’s foreign minister, Lindiwe Sisulu.

Some Chinese manufacturers are expanding to Africa but the bulk of Chinese investment goes into mining or construction of roads and other infrastructure. A state-owned automaker, BAIC Group, announced plans this year to start producing electric cars in South Africa.

As Chinese manufacturers move to making higher-value products, “the slack that is produced as a consequence can be taken up by African economies,” according to Tshabalala.

Standard Bank represents the biggest Chinese investment in Africa to date, after state-owned Industrial and Commerce Bank of China Ltd. agreed in 2007 to buy 20 percent of the African lender for $5.5 billion. Since then, the two banks say they have collaborated on channeling billions of dollars of Chinese investment into Africa.

Some 300 companies account for the majority of China’s business activity in Africa, but the region also has some 30,000 smaller Chinese firms that are of growing importance, said Francois Gamet, head of Standard Bank Group’s Asian operation.

Asked about concerns over Africa’s rising debts to China, the banks said those still are relatively small and most countries can repay them.

“The reality is that Chinese debt as a percentage of total African debt is still relatively small,” said Kenny Fihla, Standard Bank’s chief executive for corporate banking.

Governments in the region have “fiscal discipline,” said Tshabalala.

“Wars, pestilence, violence and conflict have declined,” he said. “We are quite comfortable that most of these countries have both the ability and the willingness to meet their obligations.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Much detail, little progress in US-China talks, sources say

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

US-China trade talks this week were heavy on details but short on progress as US negotiators outlined cases of American firms harmed by Chinese practices and China argued it was meeting its WTO obligations, people familiar with contents of the discussions said.

The two days of talks in Washington led by mid-level officials did little to resolve a worsening trade spat between the world’s two biggest economies and ended on Thursday without a joint statement.

Washington separately held hearings during the week on another round of proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that appear increasingly likely to take effect in late September or early October.

And while factions on the US side have given conflicting signals on how hard to press Beijing during the trade dispute, officials from the Treasury Department, which led the talks, and the US Trade Representative, which has taken a harder line, were aligned in their messaging, the people said.

The talks took place as the two sides followed through on threatened tit-for-tat tariffs on $16 billion worth of the other’s goods. Beijing has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization about the US duties.

During the talks, Chinese negotiators repeatedly invoked what they said was Beijing’s compliance with WTO rules, an argument that did not impress the US side.

One of the sources described the US response as: “We’re not going to care about the WTO as you fuel overcapacity, wreck industries and steal IP (intellectual property). We’re not going to sit on our hands.”

All of the sources declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

Washington is demanding Beijing improve market access and intellectual property protections for US companies, cut industrial subsidies and slash a $375 billion trade gap.

In a brief statement on Friday, China’s commerce ministry said both sides had a “constructive” and “candid” exchange over trade issues, and will stay in touch on the next steps.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, had downplayed expectations for the talks.

No further talks have been announced.

Chinese negotiators brought up the lack of US market access for items including Chinese cooked chicken, one of the exports that was agreed last year as part of a 100-day plan, demonstrating Beijing is still seeking some US concessions in the talks.

“The Chinese are stuck in the mindset that they want something in return. That’s not going to fly in Washington anymore,” another source briefed on the talks said.

US negotiators brought up the case of Micron Technology, which was temporarily barred by a Chinese court in July from selling its main semiconductor products in China, citing violation of patents held by Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp (UMC).

In December, Micron had filed a civil lawsuit in California accusing UMC and its state-backed Chinese partner of stealing technology.

One of the people said the talks focused on systemic issues related to Washington’s “Section 301” probe into China’s intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

There was little, if any, focus on more purchases by China of US commodities. During the previous round of talks, in June in Beijing, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross unsuccessfully sought to secure major Chinese purchases of US soybeans and liquefied natural gas.

In an editorial late on Friday, the Global Times, a nationalist Chinese tabloid run by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said it was clear that the two days of talks did not yield significant progress.

“An escalation in the US-China trade war is becoming obvious,” it said, citing US congressional elections in November as a key reason for the tough US stance.

“So far, neither side shows signs of extending the trade war to other areas. We hope that both sides can stick to the ‘rule’ and keep the trade issue within limits,” it said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Asian shares hit one-year low on Turkey, China worries

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Asian shares hit fresh one-year lows in early trading on Thursday, while oil and precious metal prices also tumbled as Turkey’s currency crisis and fears of an economic slowdown in China fanned worries about global growth.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.0 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei and the Australian benchmark dropped 1.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Chinese stocks continued to sag, with the Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shedding 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Tech shares came under pressure after China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd reported its first quarterly profit fall in nearly 13 years on weak gaming revenue. The knock to the rest of the sector sent South Korea’s Samsung Electronics to a one-year low.

Wall Street’s major indexes closed lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 down 0.8 percent, its biggest percentage drop since late June, amid disappointing earnings and escalating global trade worries.

“Negative news come from Turkey and China every day is upsetting global markets,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior market strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

“Also, Tencent’s earnings shock hurt tech stocks, sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq lower. It reminded investors that the US-China trade spat is starting to harm the health of even the tech firms, which had been a major driver of the US share rally.”

Oil prices took an additional hit after data showed a surprise weekly increase in US crude stockpiles, compounding worries about a weaker global economic growth outlook.

US crude oil fell to two-month lows, falling 0.6 percent in early Asian trade to as low as $64.42 per barrel, after Wednesday’s 3.2 percent fall.

Brent slipped 0.25 percent to $70.58, after a fall of 2.4 percent on Wednesday.

Spot gold dropped 1.0 percent to $1,162.31 an ounce in early Asian trade on Thursday, hitting its lowest levels since January last year.

Copper lost 4.0 percent to $5,801.00 a tonne and zinc fell 6.3 percent, touching its lowest level since October 2016 on Wednesday.

The escalation in global trade tensions continued to weigh on sentiment with Beijing lodging a complaint to the World Trade Organization to determine the legality of US tariff and subsidy policies.

Turkey also raised tariffs on some US products in response to Washington’s levies, Vice President Fuat Oktay wrote on Twitter.

The United States on Wednesday ruled out removing steel tariffs that have contributed to a currency crisis in Turkey even if Ankara frees a US pastor, as Qatar pledged $15 billion in investment to Turkey, supporting a rise in the Turkish lira.

The euro and the offshore Chinese yuan bounced back following a report that Chinese delegation led by vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen will travel to the United States for trade talks in late August.

The euro and yuan gained 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow